I've been slow writing a report on the Porto match as I haven't felt well over the last few days. I've finally gotten around to it now that I'm feeling better. By the time you read this it'll be time for the Bolton report. Sure I never get a minutes peace.

Porto looks like it was a walkover on the face of it. 4-1 sounds like a one sided hammering. In reality it was quite close until 15 mins to go. El Nino scored the opener in the first half when we were on top and he mach looked like it was going to be easy. They had a good spell for 15 mins either side of half time. After they scored, while the game was 1-1, it could have gone either way. Then Rafa brought Kewell and Crouchie on. Kewell set up Torres and Crouchie scored with a header from a corner. Gerrard scored a peno. Job done. Now it a case of getting a win in the Marseille match to make sure that we go through to the next round. I feel that we're more than capable of doing what needs to be done.


Bolton visit Anfield tomorrow. Again, Xabi and Dagger aren't ready yet. They are taking their time coming back but it's better not to rush it this time as we discovered the last time.

Rick Parry denied that Tom Hicks is interested in selling his share of Liverpool. One of the tabloids suggested that Sheik Maktoum was interested in buying out the Texan. It seems like this is pure speculation.

Trot on Trotters.

Four items on the agenda today.

1. Very well done today. Another 3 points in the bag away from home. Our away bag is now the fullest in the league. Long may it continue. 3-0 at St James' Park is always a good result. The press tomorrow will say that the Toon were shit, and they were. But we played very well and we could have had a lot more goals.


Gerrard answered his critics, and the Toon fans booing him, in style. He hit a superb free kick to open the scoring and had a hand in the next two goals. Stevie played in the middle with Lucas and Momo alongside him. This is an effective away from home tactic and has worked well for Chelsea in the past. Lucas had a great game bar a dip just before the end of the first half. He passed and tackled superbly. He sat a bit deeper today which let Momo move forward to hassle the opposition and Gerrard pull some strings. Lucas will be a great alternative for Xabi in times to come. A really impressive first Premier League start from the young Brazilian. Momo was poor again. He hassled and harried as he does and was as effective as ever without the ball. But his touch and passing were as bad as they have been in recent times. Great to see Harry manage to play 55 mins. We'll need him in the weeks ahead.

Torres played very well but his finishing was slightly off. He could have had four or five goals if he was on top form. He was unlucky to see one effort on half time hit the post but the keeper was out of the way so he really should have scored. Kuyt had a mixed game. He was doing his usual workhorse role supporting Torres from behind and out wide. He didn't do too much for his goal beyond being in the right place. But they all count and he has three in the league now. It was a definite improvement on some of his recent form but there is still a long way to go before he's back to his best. Babel came on in the second half and ran Newcastle ragged from the right. Rafa seems to prefer using the Dutch kid as an impact sub for now. It's working well and he gave the home defenders a nightmare. He combined superbly with Gerrard for the third score. It was a sublime goal and the pick of the bunch. I'm a big fan of Babel and hope that he keeps improving at his current rate.


The defence did what it had to do, which wasn't much at all. Martins was well managed by Carra and Sami. There wasn't a huge amount of threat from them anywhere else. Arbeloa had another good match at left back. Between him, Aurelio and Insua we will be able to cope at left back if Riise is sold in Jan.

Utd dropped 3 points against Bolton today was an unexpected bonus. I really didn't expect that to happen. It looked to me like the big four teams all winning before the matches began. We're now three points behind Utd and two behind City, with a game in hand, which is a decent situation. Unfortunately, we're still 6 points behind Arsenal without games in hand. They could do with slipping up and letting us back into the race. That's not too much to ask for, is it?

2. The board v Rafa battle rumbles on. I was hoping that we had left this behind when it all kicked off in the summer. This is a really bad situation and I'm very worried. Rafa came out in the press conference on Thursday and made it clear that he's not happy with the Hicks and Gillett in relation to transfer plans. They seem to have told him to concentrate on training and managing the current players. I hate to our dirty laundry being washed in public. Things seem to be slightly better after the match today and Rafa said that the row wasn't serious. Hopefully this is the case and both parties can move forward. Unfortunately I fear that Rafa will walk away from the club sooner or later over the boards conduct of transfers and lack of speed. The plan in the summer was rumoured to be that Foster Gillett would be based on Merseyside to work with Parry and Rafa on transfers. It now appears that we went back to US after the Arsenal game and hasn't been back since. I think that they will be able to sort this out short term but I can see this row erupting again in 6 months and Rafa walking in the summer. It'll be a sad day for the club is he does leave as he's a superb manager and the perfect man for the job. His resignation would set us back around 3-4 years in my view.

3. The Porto match on wed night is huge. We're in much better form than we were when we played them in Portugal. But they're still a good team and will cause us problems. We have to win and will be going for it from the start. If we don't score early, I can see the sitting back and trying to hit us on the break with the likes of Quaresma. An early goal and it mightn't be too bad. But we'll have to go for it as we're out if we fail to win.

4. AOB. Javi Martinez has been linked to us recently. He's another young creative midfielder, who plays for Athletic Bilbao, so I don't really see where he fits into the plans at the moment. Rafa then came out on the official site and said that we aren't interested in signing him now. We have more than enough central midfielders at the moment though. Maybe he'll be a target if we sell Momo.

Until Wednesday. Anfield awaits.

Ruthless. Liverpool were like MC Ren of NWA last night. 8, that's the magic number. 8-0. Despite all that, Crouch isn't happy. He feels that we should have had more. Greedy bugger.



It's hard to pick out individuals after a performance like that. Almost everyone had a great match. We scored 8 and played some beautiful football. I don't want to be negative but Riise was notable in his inability to join in with the one touch football. But he had his part to play too and set up a fwe goals with his vicious shots which the keeper couldn't save. He did have his usual quota of wayward efforts over the bar though.

Crouch was notable in opening and closing the scoring. He got a bit lucky with the first but reacted well and finished well beyond the keeper. The final goal was a great header after a cross from the wing. I think that he made a telling contribution and put down a marker. It'll be hard for Rafa to drop him for Fulham unless Torres is fit.

Yossi grabbed a hat trick but it was his all round play which was impressive. His first goal was lovely but his second and third were tap ins. He drifted all over the front third and supported the strikers well. Arbleoa provided width and protection on the right, allowing Yossi to go where he needed.

Voronin had a superb game. He linked midfield and attack in a clever manner. His link up play for Gerrards goal was a joy to behold. He did a great job of bringing the likes of Yossi, Babel, Kewell and Gerrard into the game. He didn't grab a goal for himself but he wasn't far off.

The boy Babel done well. His first goal was the pick of the bunch for me. If Rooney or Ronaldo scored that one we would be hearing about it for a long time. He got lucky with the second but was unlucky to see a headed effort hit the bar. Granted it's easier to come on against a team who are already beaten and look good, but this was a cameo of the riches he has. I think that if we persist with him he'll go onto be a star for us.

So we still have to win our two final games in the champions league. I think that we're capable of it but it won't be easy. Porto visit Anfield in the next game. It's a pity that they beat Marseille last night but we know what we need to do. If we win the two games we should be able to go through.

Back to domestic matters this sat when Fulham come to Anfield. They aren't in great form and this is a good opportunity for us to get back on track in the league. Torres might even be fit but I would imagine it'll be a case of him sitting on the bench unless needed again. We don't want him heading off with Spain and getting injured again.

Bring on the cottagers.

Sometimes you play well and lose. Sometimes you play badly and win. Sometimes you play well and the ref robs you, like what happened against Chelsea. Sometimes you play shit and get away with a draw. That's what happened in the Dragao on Tuesday when we drew 1-1. It was a fairly poor game and we didn't play well at all. It was one of those nights where nobody had a particularly good game. They started off like a rocket and scored with the eight minutes. We were suffering from shell shock but we did manage to get our act together somewhat as the half went on. Sami flicked on a Finnan cross and Dirk Kuyt was there to score from close range. It was an important goal at an imporant time.

In the second half Pennant got riled up, not for the first time. He was sent off for an idiotic tackle on Fucile. Porto players went down easy enough but there is no accounting for Pennants stupidity. It was a needless tackle and put extra pressure on the team. I doubt that Rafa was too impressed with that. We improved defensively after that and won a hard fought point.


But while a point away was a good result, the bad news that Xabi and Dagger are injured arrived today. While we have enough cover in central midfield, we could be a bit short at the back. Sami is short of pace but he'll do his best over the next four to six weeks. Sami isn't as accomplished a passer and tends to hoof the ball out of defence more. This has a knock on effect on our play which we'll have to try and minimise. We might even see Arbeloa play a few games there. Jack Hobbs might come into contention for the easier games. IT's going to be tough but we should be able to get through. We face Everton away on Oct 20th and then Arsenal at home a week later. I hope that we have them back at that stage but that would mean some quick healing is required.

Bring on Brum. Handy home win required.

How's your glass? I think that mine is still half full. But I can't help but feel that this was two points dropped. We knew that Portsmouth is a tough place to go and get three points. They held Utd to a 1-1 draw earlier on this season. It could have been worse. If it weren't for Pepe saving a Kanu penalty, then we could have been looking at our first defeat of the season. We did create a few chances. Crouch forced James into a good save early in the first half. Voronin hit the top of the bar and Torres should have done better after being put through on the keeper with a few minutes to go. Much talk, predictably from Andy Grey, was about Gerrard being on the bench. I think that it was an understandable decision given that his fitness was in question and he just played 2 games in four days for England. Plus we had top quality replacements to come in in the form of Xabi and Momo. Brum at home next weekend should be a much easier challenge.



El Nino revealed that he spurned our rivals to lfc.tv. Nice one my son. Given Utd's proflgacy in front of goal this season maybe they should have bought him instead of Tevez.

We're signing the central defender Ayala. But rather than the Argentine rock who played for Rafa at Valencia, this lad is 17 and plays for Sevilla. This could be promising as Sevilla have a great youth policy. If he goes on to be half the player that his namesake is, then we could have a serious prospect on our hands.

Champsions league returns on Tuesday night. There is something fantasticly exciting about hearing the theme music belting out over maessages from the sponsors and partners. It nearly makes me go out and buy some Contental tyres, even though I don't have a car. I went through a phase of only drinking Amestel as it was my tipple of choice in the 2005 campaign. Champions league make the darkening of the evenings and the approach of cold winter evenings somewhat less off putting. The road is long and unpredictable. It could end up anywhere - Istanbul, Athens or maybe Moscow. It might end after the group stage as it did for Utd two years ago when they finsihed bottom of a group with Lille, Benfica and Villareal. The first stop on our contental tour is Porto on Tuesday night. They have some good players in Quaresma and Lucho González. I think that Rafa will go for a win but a draw away from home wouldn't be a bad result.

Roll on 7.45 on Tuesday.